The Patek Philippe Calatrava: a series so often regarded as the peak of luxury, it has become the modern-day “Grail watch” for so many collectors, of both vintage and contemporary watches. Famed initially for its simplicity, originality, and timelessness of design, the Calatrava series set out from the start to follow the German Bauhaus school of design, which championed the tenets of minimalism and functionality.
The Patek Philippe Calatrava: a series so often regarded as the peak of luxury, it has become the modern-day “Grail watch” for so many collectors, of both vintage and contemporary watches. Famed initially for its simplicity, originality, and timelessness of design, the Calatrava series set out from the start to follow the German Bauhaus school of design, which championed the tenets of minimalism and functionality.
Released in 1932 shortly after Patek Philippe’s acquisition by the Stern family, the Calatrava series was named after the Calatrava cross, derived from medieval Christian heritage, which Patek uses as its corporate logo. The Reference 96 (pictured above), the very first in the series, was groundbreaking for its time — starkly contrasting the more intricate dial and case designs of the preceding years (think Art Deco and early pilot watches).
Patek Philippe’s World Time watch 5230 has been around for almost 80 years, and this year the brand is presenting a new version that replaces all previous models. It incorporates some changes in the cities used to designate the various time zones, such as Moscow that has moved from UTC+4 to UTC+3. At the same time, the watch was redesigned, with details such as the new-style lugs, the narrow bezel that increases the sense of space on the dial, new hour and minute hands, and the basket weave guilloché at the centre of the dial. This type of guilloché is based on a pocket watch in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, and it is made by hand using a century-old guilloché machine.
It was in 1992 that Philippe Stern, president and owner of Patek Philippe, tasked his watchmakers with creating a timepiece that would bridge the gap between simple calendar functions — date or day/date only, with adjustments necessary at the end of each month shorter than 31 days — and the mechanically elaborate and (for some) prohibitively expensive perpetual calendars, which account for the lengths of every month and even leap years, requiring adjustment only every hundred-odd years.
It wasn’t until 1996, however — 20 years ago — that the result of this horological challenge was presented to the public. Patek Philippe Ref. 5035, said to be the very first annual calendar wristwatch, with a patented construction, was voted Watch of the Year in 1997 and spawned an entirely new category of “useful complications” in the watch industry as well as 21 Patek Philippe watches over the past two decades equipped with annual calendars. The newest, Ref. 5396, a highlight piece from Patek’s collection at this year’s Baselworld, is intended as a celebration of this significant anniversary both for Patek and the watch world overall.
It’s quite difficult to imagine, but the Patek Philippe 5270 is actually the simplest perpetual calendar chronograph of the collection; keep in mind that the two other references with these complications also feature a split-second (ref. 5204) or a minute repeater (ref. 5208). Clearly, though, the 5270 is not a simple watch. It is the latest edition in a long lineage that began with the reference 1518, the world’s first perpetual calendar chronograph, introduced in the middle of the 1940s. This extremely rare bird was produced for only 13 years, in 281 pieces, and features a movement based on a Valjoux ébauche but highly modified and adorned with the Geneva Seal. A few years later, during the early 1950s, Patek Philippe launched the Reference 2499, an improved edition of the perpetual calendar chronograph. Very similar in design, the 3970 and the 5970 came after that, with minor improvements and updated shapes. But in 2011, the 5270 added something very interesting to this classical model: an in-house movement. No more Valjoux or Lemania base here, but instead pure Patek Philippe.
